Dead Man Walking
by rupzydaisy
Summary: Series of Jack one shots. From his past, present and future.
1. Dead Man Walking

_Hiya, so this is my first Torchwood fic, (suppose it could go in DW too, but Jack is Torchwood) M because it's got suicide in it..._

_Disclaimer: Torchwood not mine. Neither are the song lyrics. I've added them in because they fit well. _

_-rupzydaisy :D _

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Dead Man Walking

'And I find it kinda funny, and I find it kinda sad. The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had.'  
~Mad World, Gary Jules~

Jack had always had this feeling. Never made much sense before, but now it did. Why shouldn't it? If memories from the 'never was' can still come back to haunt his nightmares, then why couldn't the future affect the past? Events of such a magnitude can ripple back along time lines like a wave crashing down on the shore, or rolling backwards out to sea. It was a weird feeling nonetheless, and it always bubbled up from his stomach whenever there was something dangerous around. A reminder of sorts, or a warning.

He moved closer to the edge of the cliff and looked down the sheer drop. Inky black waves crashed against the white cliff face and rushed around the side towards the sandy beach. The peaks of the waves looked like folded up paper, they didn't look real from that distance and he was too far away to feel the spray of the cool water.

Jack took in a deep breath and mused on whether this was a good idea. His hand absently wandered to the middle of his chest, the scar had healed up hours ago, but it was odd and very painful when he had woken up earlier that morning. Huge gulping breaths, hands clawing on the stinking dustbin bags for something to hold onto, his feet kicking at the blue box of empty bottles left out to be recycled. He grasped and groped onto reality. And there, right in the middle of his chest, a gaping red raw hole.

He knew he should've been dead; actually he had died...only he hadn't stayed dead as was the norm. Logically, with a wound like that he had bled out. And technically he should have never woken up. Yet he did. He had scrambled up to his feet, done up the buttons on his coat to hide the mess and strode back into the bar for another drink.

The whole experience had been disorientating to say the least. He sat at the bar with his pint, his face expressionless while he thought about what had happened. After he had, died, it was just...dark. Nothing else, no bright light, no pearly gates, no waiting room, just blackness. With no sense of direction, there wasn't an up or down, a left or right. Just blackness. Darkness completely encircling him. To tell the truth he wasn't completely sure if it was blackness, he didn't feel like he had a body when...that happened. With no sense of perception, how dark was the darkness? Could he tell how black the blackness was? Or was it something else entirely? Perhaps he was lost in some place else, not dying, not dead and not alive.

Jack shuddered and his eyes flickered open. He edged a little closer to the edge of the cliff, sucked in another deep breath. Somehow he had managed to rationalise this crazy, crazy thing. He was either going to die, or die and then wake up again. _Fifty-fifty chance then. _He lifted his shirt up to check the once-was wound. The skin was now smooth, no puckered scar tissue, not even a scratch. Taking another long breath in, he jumped.

There was a split second where he was flying with his coat billowing out above him and the wind teasing and playing with his hair. Then he fell, plummeting down through the cold air and splashed into the icy water.

* * *

The beach was quiet that morning with only one family visiting it. The parents were camped out on the blanket looking dubiously at the grey sky which threatened their day out with rain. Their little daughter was happily entertaining herself with the rock pools, prodding a purple star fish and watching the tiny crabs scuttle away along the damp sand. Her brother, on the other hand, was amusing himself by running ankle deep into the crashing waves and then back up the beach shrieking with laughter.

It took around thirty seconds to realise that he was screaming, rather than shrieking when a lump of blue material was washed up onto the beach by the rolling waves. They retreated, leaving foamy trails behind as the father ran up to his son and then cautiously approached the lump of material. He leaned over to tug at what appeared to be a coat and as he lifted it up, underneath was a man.

The father leaned back in horror before slowly putting his hand on the lifeless man's neck. No pulse, he was dead. He turned back to his wife who was staring at him in shock, both adults not knowing what to do. Suddenly the dead man gasped loudly and sat up in one swift movement, grabbing onto the father's shirt, cluctching on tightly with white knuckles. The woman screamed and the man's heart skipped a beat as he wrenched the once-dead man's hands off him, back peddling away from him and pulling his son behind him. His feet scrabbled in the sand as his eyes grew wide with shock and fear.

The couple huddled together pulling their kids closer to them as they watched Jack struggle to his feet and crack his neck loudly. Jack ignored their terrified faces and slowly turned around to look at the cliff he had been standing on just a few minutes ago. He let out a shaky chuckle. "Well, that's...new." He laughed a little louder, full of relief.

"Oh Doctor, why'd you leave me like this. Is it really that bad?" Jack thought aloud before staggering off towards the more rocky side of the beach and the start of the road leaving the family staring at the dead man walking.

* * *

"Jack!" Gwen shouted from downstairs. "I'm going home now. So's Owen!" Jack was woken up by the ex-policewoman's shout and he could hear Owen's grumbling.

"See you tomorrow!" Gwen called and the sirens went off as they both left the Hub. Jack sighed and removed his feet from his desk. It had been a quiet day with hardly any Rift activity and he had dozed off sometime in the afternoon while reading over some files. Ianto was at him sick with the flu so there had been none of that amazing coffee to wake him up.

He stretched and stood up then walked out of his office. Jack wasn't very surprised about dreaming about the second time he had died. After all, it had taken him another two bullets, being trampled by a horse stampede and a nasty knife wound to realise that he couldn't die properly, not ever, and not for a lack of trying. Those days had been a struggle, one which he couldn't win either way.

Sometimes he did wonder how long it would take until he really did want to die, when he didn't want to fight anymore, when would become tired of running and had seen too much of the universe and time passing by. Another hundred years, a thousand, a million? The Doctor didn't have a clue about how long he'd live. It appeared as though Rose had brought him back forever. And forever was an extremely long time.

The klaxon sounded loudly as Rift activity was flagged up and he raced down the stairs. _But, I suppose, with a job like this; defending the Earth, not being able to die comes in pretty handy_. He thought as he grinned mischievously whilst pulling up the highlighted sector in which Rift activity had been detected onto the main screen. Then Jack fished out his phone and began to call back his team, for what looked like the start of a long night chasing after, quite possibly very dangerous gun toting aliens.

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_Hope you liked it, read and review please :D _


	2. Hands

_Hello, so, this was originally going to be a one shot, but then people put it on alerts, then I got some ideas, and that leads us to here with this second chapter. (sometime at the start of the first series)_

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Hands

They say you can tell a person's age, not by their face, but by their hands. But Jack couldn't see his age, over a hundred and fifty years, marked anywhere on the young skin on his hands. None of his past or history had been etched onto them. The damage they had suffered over the long years. He had lost the left one after a particularly nasty Weevil attack in the 1970's. They had been badly burnt and scarred for a short time from an exploding bomb in the Second World War, the second time around.

The same hands which had held blasters, guns, and all other types of weapons. Same hands which had held his head as he tried and failed to remember the two lost years that they had stolen from him. Same hands which had clasped onto his vortex manipulator as he turned rogue and ran from the Time Agency. Same hands that had grasped for money he had conned from so many. The same hands which had lifted countless shot glasses, bottles and pints in bars, clubs and pubs all over the universe.

Same hands which had pushed the button to catch a falling lady with the Union Jack on her shirt. Same hands which had twirled her around the roof of his ship in the middle of London in the height of the Blitz. Same hands he had clapped the Doctor on the back with after they had saved the Earth from an impossible enemy. A job contract shaken on with over a century of service. Same hands which he had held out to recruit his team with. And instead of holding a gun in his hand for the sake of fighting, he was now fighting for the Earth.

But, then they weren't the same hands anymore, not completely. No scars, no blemishes, no burns, no wrinkles. Not even a bloody paper cut. They didn't show his past, just his future. And how he'd always be. Skin so secretive, not divulging any past experiences. Most of them he had wanted to forget anyway, and though the scars weren't there physically, they were mental. But his hands wouldn't reveal his age, just like his face and the rest of his body. It was up to him to decide to do that.

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In the end it was Owen who had been inquisitive enough to ask, or as Tosh argued, nosey enough. "Jack, how old are you, because look like you're our age, but..." He broke off not knowing how to phrase the rest of the question.

"You seem older. A lot older." Tosh finished off for him and Owen just pulled a face at her before rolling his chair forwards.

Gwen had gotten involved in the conversation too, "It's in the eyes," she added, nodding her head.

Owen sighed dramatically at her then swivelled around on his chair before facing the man in question. "So go on then Jack, how old are you?"

Jack looked up from his computer, and stared at Owen for a second before answering. "You should never ask a guy about his age," he said grinning while standing up. Then he turned to frown at Owen using his serious tone, "And that's Captain Jack. Don't you forget it." Before he strode off up the stairs to his office.

Owen pulled a face as Jack disappeared out of sight, "Of course _Captain_ Jack. But I can't seem to see your ship anywhere. Have you lost it?" He muttered sarcastically and Tosh threw a screwed up paper ball at him. She caught it and threw it back, so that it bounced off his head and landed on his desk.

"So how old do you think he is. I'm gonna say...late thirties." Owen mused, "And he didn't want to tell us because he doesn't like to remember." He laughed as he chucked the paper ball at Gwen. It missed her completely and landed on the floor.

"I agree with Owen. Although, how did you manage to tag that Weevil last week if you can't hit Gwen who's sitting opposite you. And she's not running haphazardly through the streets of Cardiff." Tosh said as Owen threw a pen at her, it too missing her, causing her to laugh at him as he sulked.

"What do you think Gwen?" Tosh asked as Owen gathered up his papers and walked off towards the desk behind the operating table.

"Same as you, mid to late thirties." She raised her eyebrow at Owen's childish behaviour. After a short silence she spoke again, "You know, when I trying to find out where this place was I got a friend to search for a Captain Jack Harkness."

"Really, that's fascinating Gwen." Owen called sarcastically over his shoulder.

"The only mention of a Captain Jack Harkness is from records from the Second World War. They say that he just went missing." Gwen continued with a conspirator like tone, ignoring Owen. "Wasn't seen again, just dropped off the records."

"But how does that...oh, his coat." Tosh said in a low voice, realising what Gwen was inferring. "But that would make him like..."

"I know, it's impossible. Same name, different person." Gwen commented and then they quickly fell silent as Jack stuck his head out of the door and told them to "_Stop gossiping like a group of eighty year olds and get on with your work!"_

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_Thank you to the ones who reviewed :D Thanks to those who put this on alerts, the only reason why this is now a series. :D And thanks to those who favorited :D _


	3. Of Conmen And Doctors

_Next chapter up, so soon! O.O_

_About the Doctor and Jack... just because...  
My shortest chapter ever, but I'm not completly sure what it is... I was thinking (uh oh)... would be it a drabble then? _

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Of Conmen And Doctors

They can be both strong and weak.

Courageous and cowardly.

They've run towards battle and far far from it.

Young and ancient at the same time.

Try as it might, one event, experience or fight cannot define them for the rest of their lives.

Because they have more than enough time to choose for themselves.

They were brothers, sons, cousins. They had families once upon a time ago.

Memories which were once held so tightly in their hearts and minds, now faded into the shadows, corners and depths, unwilling to remember what was gone.

Because it hurts.

While some things have changed, others have stayed the same.

Some secrets will stay locked up forever.

Death, destruction and fire are left in their wake. But not on purpose.

Only remnants of the chaos which could have been if they had never wandered by at all.

Both wandering, lonely travellers. But not by choice.

Simply because no one could keep up for so long as they ran. Because they are always running, so far and so fast.

Companions tire, grow older and then wither away. Die.

A lonely lost man and another who is still trying to find his fixed place in the universe.

And while one continued running far and fast to see new horizons, shining stars and countless stunning sunrises, running from his past and his own history.

The other remains, tied to one place, letting time age his surroundings, as he, like a boulder in the middle of a stream watches it all pass around.

The Oncoming Storm whirls and spins through time and space, cheating so many opponents and enemies out of their planned victories.

The Silver Destruction takes the slow path, waiting patiently while attempting to heal the damage of the Cardiff Rift.

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_So, the Silver Destruction, saw it on Wikipedia, I think it's from one of the books, but you don't mind me borrowing it do you? :D _

_Review!_


	4. Fortunes Foretold

_Mini Summary: The card girl AKA Little Girl. (__The mysterious __fortune teller__is a psychic, ageless tarot card reader.) __She is only known as 'Little Girl'. - wikipedia. *nodding my head* and she's very creepy. So, when I was writing this... Jack waited six months before shooting off again... quite some time... must have been some reason behind it... and creepy girl is quite creepy. I know nothing about tarot cards, made up my own, they can be alien/future tarot cards... and I copied how she acted before with them. Exams+ revison = a slightly creepy fic :D _

_Disclaimer: Torchwood not mine. Plot: is._

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Foretold Fortunes

Jack had been pouring over data from the Rift's latest readings, it showed that the Rift had calmed down once more and relapsed into its hibernative state. If nothing large travelled through and if nobody tried to force it open it wouldn't be much trouble. Then he heard footsteps behind him and spun around immediately on his chair.

"How did you get in?" He asked, extremely shocked by the sudden visitor. It was the little girl, the card girl. She still looked the same from when he had first saw her in the 19th century, although she wore a dark blue dress, black hoodie, white tights and black converses instead of the clothing of the Victorian era.

She seemed ageless, not looking a day older, while he had to resort to hair dye to cover up those emerging greys. Ageless, physic, tarot card, fortune telling girl whom Jack didn't like at all. Being an ex-Time Agent, he was faintly sensitive to time and she just was _wrong_. From the two times he had met her before, he slightly understood what the Doctor must feel whenever Jack was around him. It was a nauseous, gut churning effect and it didn't help that she had a creepy air to her.

She smiled sweetly at him as she walked up to his desk, promptly shoving the keyboard onto the other side and then swept all of the paperwork he had been working on over the past two days onto the floor. Papers floated down, pens clattered to the floor and Jack stared back at the little girl, unamused at the mess she was making.

In her hand was a deck of cards. She shuffled them in deep concentration before looking up at him. Jack swallowed nervously, unsure whether he wanted to know what she was about to show him. She was...surprisingly accurate.

"You haven't changed, at all. How does that work?" He quizzed her curiously as she continued to shuffle the cards. "See I get the odd grey hair, but you haven't changed a bit. So what's your secret? Could save me a lot of money. Good hair dye's expensive." He titled his head as she ignored him, still shuffling the cards, then she stopped.

"Three cards," she stated, placing the deck on the table, face down and fanned out the cards before she pushed out three at random. She leaned forwards to flip over the one on the left. "The Rize Tree," she stated and looked at Jack expectantly.

He sighed and nodded his head, "Yeah, I remember." He leaned back against the table as he stared at the card. On it was a large purple tree with gold leaves. The tree was native to his old home, and most commonly found by the sea on the Boeshane Peninsular.

And it was famous for being odd; its roots were shorter than its branches unlike the norm for trees. Jack also remembered that by the time he had joined the Time Agency, the whole area where the trees grew had been bombed during a scuffle in the war. There were no more glittering sunrises or sunsets where the whole forest looked like it was on fire.

The little girl tilted her head and moved on to the next card, flipping it over quickly. The image on this one was different, it was a rock.

"Really? A rock?" He asked sarcastically. The girl ignored him and she pointed to something more important in the background. A stream which was cut off by the rock in the foreground, passing through the left hand side of the card but never making it to the right.

"Always so hostile. An obstacle, Captain." The little girl commented sweetly without taking her eyes of the cards.

She reached for the third card but Jack interrupted before she flipped it over. "How did you get in?"

"The flaws in your security are none of my problems. You have more concerning ones." She replied as she turned over the card. The image on this one managed to get his attention a little more than the others. He was shocked and surprise flashed across his face for a moment before he looked at her sceptically.

"Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?" He muttered under his breath and he took in the creature drawn on the card, a large, lone wolf with dark brown fur. Its white teeth seemed to glint under the dim lights in the Hub and the eyes were pitch black coals. Jack couldn't help but note the wolf's paws, equally large with sharp claws.

"You should be." The little girl commented seriously.

"So how many times out of ten does this all turn out to be right?" Jack asked, grinning mischievously as he leaned back against the table. The girl pushed up the three cards together on the table before gathering up the rest of the pile and putting them into her hoodie pocket.

"He returned after the turn of a century, did he not?" She stated, and Jack heard the implication in her tone.

"So, what's this century got in store for me?" He asked looking down at the three cards.

"The Rize Tree. Branches so long and roots so short, events which have happened shall return to affect your future. You cannot run from your past. Not when you are so fixed, Captain." She pointed to the rock. "An obstacle, an encounter, a problem that has no solution. Try as you might."

"Maybe I'll try harder now that I've got a hint." Jack commented.

"The wolf. A warning," she stated bluntly.

"Yes I know that."

"Then you know what comes with it," she prompted.

"Trouble." He replied as bluntly as she did.

For the first time in over a century and a handful of encounters, Jack heard the girl laugh. It was a light laugh, but with undertones of something which creeped him out further.

Then she reverted back to her impassive tone as she explained, "The wolf, is a warning, Captain. Of death and destruction and darkness. Of enemies and the pits of hell. You of all people should know that. And you do. I can see it in your eyes. You know the wolf. You have travelled alongside it before. And time shall come when it will return, bringing back the devastation that happened before. And no winds or oncoming storm shall be able to blow it away. "

Jack watched her with wary eyes as she stared back into his for a moment. "Twenty first century, it's when it all changes."

"I'll take my leave now Captain. I know when I have outstayed my welcome." The little girl said slowly as she turned around and walked back down the ramp towards the Rift Manipulator. Jack followed after.

"Wait, how did you get in here?" He demanded as she continued to walk around the silver structure in the centre of the Hub. She walked around the edge and her black hoodie disappeared from sight.

"Hey!" He shouted as he ran down the ramp and around the Rift Manipulator, but the Hub was now empty, the little girl gone. Seemingly the same way she had gotten in, however that was. But left behind on the damp floor of the ramp was a fourth, and final card. On it was the Grim Reaper, a tall black figure, faceless and imposing. He held it in his hand for a moment, half deciding to rip it in half and toss it and the rest of the cards in the bin. But for some reason, he couldn't begin to fathom, he retrieved the other three from the table and placed inside the bottom drawer in his desk upstairs.

Then Jack sat down in the swivel chair in his office and pulled up the security cameras, motion sensors and other security data in an attempt to find the flaw which the little girl had slipped through. The Hub was supposed to be secure and top secret. He worked into the night reviewing every second of the recording, each camera in the central area around the Rift Manipulator and used several alien devices, including his recently fixed Vortex Manipulator. He came up with nothing, no loops, no teleport, no kind of molecular travel or transport of any kind.

* * *

He was still frowning when Gwen walked into the Hub in the morning, triggering off the alarms and lights.

"Jack?" She called, "You here?"

"Yes." He replied curtly.

"I brought coffee." She walked up the stairs slowly, baby bump zipped up under her coat. Jack laughed as she walked in and pointed at her stomach.

"You're gonna drop soon." He grinned at her but she could tell something was wrong. His smile didn't look right, or real enough.

She frowned at him, "Jack. What happened?" Then she took in the sight of his office. For the first time in her life it was tidy. No scattered papers over the desk, folders teetering in piles by the door. Just pens on the desk and the pillows plumped up on the sofa.

"I'm going on a vacation." He replied as he rolled up his sleeves and began to empty the drawers, pulling out bits of tech and strange devices and putting them in his pockets.

"A vacation? Since when do you take holidays?" Gwen asked alarmed.

"I...need to get away from here." He replied without looking at her. She could tell by the tone of his voice that he wouldn't be persuaded. _And that was just Jack, just when you thought he'd stay, he was a part of your life; he'd walk straight back out again._

"And what's gonna happen to Torchwood?" She asked him blankly. He didn't look up at her, just continued to fill his pockets.

"Oh, you'll manage without me." He replied. She stalked out, down the steps and a few moments later the alarms and lights went off as she left the Hub.

Jack reached into the desk where he had left the four cards. Without looking at them he ripped them up and shoved them into the full bin before gathering up his jacket. _She was wrong_, Jack thought. If she had thought that Jack wouldn't be able to run, or change what effectively was his future, then she was wrong. Because he could keep running, he had been running his whole life. Not stopping in one place long enough to put down roots. And while he had been on this planet and working for Torchwood for a century, compared to an eternity which he had left, it was nothing.

And he would never stop running. _And if she was wrong about that, then she was wrong about everything else_. He could avoid whatever the trouble was, he could save people from this, he would try his best. He had reasoned that Gwen could look after the city, perhaps find some new recruits, the Rift had been quiet over the past six months, a few Weevil incidents but nothing unmanageable. He picked up his coat and left the Hub to go and find Gwen to say goodbye.

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_Reviews always brighten up my days! (subtle hint :D) _


	5. Only Seven Of Us

_So, I can't remember if I've done a disclaimer... here it is: I don't own Torchwood. _

_I remembered what John said and ... ending up writing this... _

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Only Seven Of Us 

_"There's only seven of us now." - Captain John Hart_

Jack couldn't help but wonder who had been left behind. Did the seven include that blonde with the long dark green nails, Ailia Koln Seim, who whenever it was her turn on the late night snack jump when everyone was bored stiff completing paperwork, would dress up and visit a pastry stall in Earth's ancient Rome and pick up a box of those divine almond pastries. Jack would always try to charm an extra one out from her box but she would always grin and move on to the next desk.

There was a man on the floor below. He always wore a tie in a shade of blue. And at Apriantime a pale silver one, given by his wife, which matched his eyes. Jack had never held a conversation with the man. Just a "Hello" or a "Bye" and sometimes the occasional brief nod if they were in a rush.

Jack also remembered the newest member on their floor. A trainee who preferred to be called Mimi as her actual name was both too long and difficult to pronounce. She had been so happy to get into the Agency, but maybe that was because she hadn't been around as long as the rest of the bunch. Seen the things they had seen.

And, after her first real assignment she had become a little more reserved. Jack had managed to get her to talk about it a little. She had recounted her story, but there chunks missing from her memory. She remembered running through tall purple grass in a field on the north of a planet called Crojo. And that something was being chased, but that was the extent of it. A few months later she had been given sick leave and curiosity had latched onto Jack. He had hacked into the records and found that the Time Agent Mimi had been killed in action on her first assignment.

She was back a few weeks after and continued with her paperwork without any complaints or hassle. Punctual in the mornings and left dead on six in the evenings. Jack remembered what had happened on an assignment a few months later when they were paired and up had to chase a rogue Verron Soothsayer across an asteroid belt. They managed to crash on the same asteroid and the man hissed at Jack and told him, "_Man who meddles with time, should not expect to pass unscathed or intact. Scattered life, disjointed past and never ever truly living. This too, shall come to pass." _Mimi had shot him, a blank look in her eyes, as usual. But she was considered one of the normal ones.

Jack almost let out a chuckle as he remembered Jiim. The short blue Vintoan had an unhealthy obsession with weaponry. Yet, he was invaluable in the field and could fashion a weapon out of anything in his surroundings. Jiim could have taken apart and reassembled any kind of weapon plonked on his desk and he was a crack shot. Saved Jack's skin on several occasions when assignments turned a little risky and not in their favour.

Jack could also remember the techie for their division. A man called Daniel, he was human, like Jack. His family had been part of the Great Leap when humans colonise planets all over the Milky Way. Daniel had been more than happy to spend day and night in his lab tinkering and fixing equipment. Not a field operative but Jack liked his sense of humour and occasionally visited him when he wanted his vortex manipulator fixed or another small and unofficial adjustment made to it. Jack doubted if the guy was one of the seven, he was more likely to have blown his lab up experimenting.

There had been more agents on the floor, people passing through, others only stopping for information on a certain assignment. On their floor, the twenty second, there were five offices. And altogether, there had been fifty five floors. And that was just their section, they dealt with the fifties. The fiftieth century to the sixtieth century that is. There was so much more, the Agency sprawled across the planet's surface, across time and the stars. Who could have been a part of the seven? If they had survived then they were very lucky.

And then there was Captain John Hart. Seeing him after all these years, Jack could see what had happened to him. The man was still living in the past. It was his one flaw, well, one of his main flaws. Desperately clinging onto his past, digging his nails and knives and maybe even an axe, into the echoes of their relationship and refusing to move on. And he was definitely the wife when they were in the Time Loop. But the man was a compulsive liar, over little things and big. It had irked Jack to no end. So when John had informed Jack that there were only seven Time Agents left, Jack smiled because he believed that John was lying again.

Because how could that vast and highly corrupt secret organisation fall so far and just not exist anymore, save for seven agents. No, the Time Agency was too big to end up disbanded, had too many secrets to be shut down, and too corrupt to let anyone try and limit it. It simply didn't make sense to the Torchwood leader. John only wanted sympathy from an ex for leaving him and lying was second nature. If there was a rehab centre for liars he'd been there, and then broken out soon after.

Seven agents left behind in the wake of the most powerful agency that ever existed, and Jack couldn't help but think that maybe, if he had stayed and hadn't gone rogue, would he have been one of them. Because the Time Agency had a habit of corrupting its agents into something else. The job demanded it. It corrupted you until you were part of the structure and if you tried to extract yourself from it, you'd end up crushed under the weight.

He was glad that he went rogue after realising his lost memories; if he had stayed he might have lost a lot more. But he was more thankful for the fact that a certain blonde had fallen from the sky with the Union Jack splayed across her t-shirt and the fact that she and her friend had whisked him off to see the stars. The one and only upside for being part of the Time Agency was that it had helped him to help them.

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_read and review :D _


	6. Going Rogue

_Hello... sooo long time no update...like to say thanks for the reviews :D _

_So here's Jack going rogue from the Time Agency..._

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Going Rogue

"I want you to target their main base," said the Commander, looking up from the holomap.

"What?"

"The main base Captain Harkness," she repeated as she shut down the map and hoisted the cannon gun over her shoulder.

"You are joking, aren't you?" Jack let out a nervous chuckle as the Commander spun on the spot.

"Captain, your assignment is to target their base." The Commander said in a serious tone, "Do you have a problem with that?" She asked tersely. It was a rhetorical question but he answered it after a short hesitation.

"Yes, I do. I disappear for six months and come back to you ordering me to target their base," he let out a little chuckle, "Nice, funny." But the smile disappeared when he saw that the woman was not smiling too.

"Captain?"

"You're serious. What are you?" Jack broke off, struggling to find the words. "We weren't even supposed to be here in the first place. Outside, it's been in flux for the past seven years!"

"You don't think I know that?" The Commander replied.

"Permission to speak freely?" He asked bluntly. The Commander frowned but nodded. "So what's happening here? We're just gonna keep fighting until we stumble past the Fixed point and shoot him?"

"Captain." The Commander barked. "Are you refusing to follow orders?"

"I-"

The Commander sighed and shifted the cannon from her left shoulder to her right and looked at her closely, "Look Jack, I know you've been confused lately, but you were never missing. You never left. Certainly not for six months. I don't know why you believe that, after all you've been one of the most consistent and capable agents this team's ever had. But...maybe you caught the end of that Time Flu? Maybe that's why you keep rattling on about forgetting two years?"

Jack knew when he was being thrown a lifeline. But mostly it just annoyed him, he knew he had gone for six months, he didn't know how or why, but he knew that the battle they had been fighting in had been misjudged from the start. It was pointless to continue.

"No, I do not have Time Flu. Commander, I've known you for five years and we've been here for seven. And never before have we attacked the base. Mainly because we couldn't predict the events which would follow, but also because no one was _supposed_ to have died here."

"Are you going to disobey your commanding officer? You have a choice Captain; you either follow orders or are court marshalled for refusing."

Jack shook his head in disbelief. "Fine. I'll follow my orders. You-" He broke off, not knowing how to say what he thought and watched as his commanding officer marched out of the room. Those six months had somehow managed to give him perspective. And while it was good to know what he was doing, he preferred to not be the only one with such clarity. So Jack swayed on the spot, deliberating for a moment before scowling darkly and kicking the table as he strode out of the room.

* * *

_Died in service. Awarded honours. _

That was what he was remembered as, remembered for. Jack sat in a computer cafe in the heart of Mbaotui, the fourth planet in the Maxz system. After his escape he had been hiding in the large, bustling city, while recovering, and had decided to look himself up in the Time Agency's records to see if the plan had worked.

In actual fact, it had worked out alright. There were several witness statements, one from his commanding officer, a few techies all supporting the circumstances of death, '_Brave soldier'_. The letters on the screen not only told of the lie of his death, but also how it had happened...

* * *

"In position." Jack said into his wristwatch after he had rode up to the top of the last ridge. The battle had been fought for the past seven years on a large planet which now seemed to resemble an asteroid. Brown dirt and the occasional weeds as sparse greenery across the whole ridged landscape. Hoverbikes were the choice of transport, quick, easy to control over the uneven surface and brilliant if needed to make a hasty escape.

The wristwatch was an old model of a vortex manipulator. He had kept the old and only manipulator he had been given instead of trading it in for a newer model. It wasn't for sentimental reasons though. Rather, Jack had added his own adjustments and little extra functions over the years. Including what could now be a very handy auto teleport setting which had taken the best part of the weekend to install and another two hours to get it to work precisely.

Jack revved the engine of the hoverbike and then flew down the ridge in between the two bases, home and enemy. He carried on in a straight line, the sensors on the front of the hoverbike feeding information to his helmet and to the main computer where they were monitoring his progress. As the distance closed he could now make out little soldiers dotted around behind the barbed wire. There was a bleeping sound.

"Proximity alarm. Captain, there are mines." Came the warning from the Commander in his earpiece.

_Oh, so you're watching to see if I follow orders. _He thought he pressed a button on the vortex manipulator. On the dimly lit screen a countdown began. _Well, watch this. _

And the Commander, the other soldiers and the technicians at the base stared in disbelief, as well as the soldiers standing behind the barbed wire who were not able to carry out the command to use a laser cannon on the approaching enemy. That was because the soldier on the hoverbike drove straight over a mound of dirt, which contained a buried mine. It exploded in a flash of red and orange fire, churning up clumps and dirt and rock and scattering it all over the area.

When the Time Agency took another thousand yards in the next day's fighting, they inspected the exploded mine. There were no remains of the hoverbike, or the Captain which rode it. The name had been added to the list of the deceased shortly after.

* * *

Jack stood up and walked out of the computer cafe and then straight into the first bar he saw. After drinking several shots of something which he was told was very strong, he paid a Sycorax to slice open the back of his neck and fish the tracker the Time Agency had planted in his neck from when he had first joined. They were used to keep track of all agents in the field.

He hooked it up to an old biodamper he had bartered and then chucked it into the engine of a starliner he stowed away on. Those trackers were practically indestructible and the fusion engine was a lot easier to find than a nuclear weapon. Not that anyone used them anymore.

Jack wandered the universe for a while. Ambled from bar to bar, gorgeous human to handsome alien. All the while completely broke. So his luck trumped when he found an old Chula ship in the middle of a junkyard on Stabros Brois. With a little effort and what felt like a long time, it became a revamped Chula ship capable of flying. And a quick jaunt into the past left a little smile on his face.

But he was still bitter. Two years, two whole years, that was seven hundred and thirty days wiped from his memory. And he knew they were missing, because they were completely gone. A black blank space left behind. So he devised the perfect solution, a con. But not just a regular con, he would con a Time Agent out of the money. Sure, it may seem petty, but he thought it was only a fraction of the justice that he could get for what they had done.

The con worked. Pompeii on 'Volcano Day'. With a nice bar and a good drink afterwards, some condolences for the 'Chula Warship' being lost in the magma. _But hey, that's life_. So he repeated the con, over and over again, and Jack became successful. At the earthquake on Cima Nine, the Raging Floods of Kying and even at the grand city of Oschi which spontaneously combusted due to the energy build-up in one of its pipelines.

And then the intergalactic conman ended up on Earth again, the year 1941. He had found an old Chula ambulance used in the wars abandoned in the middle of the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. It was easy to stick it on a time shift. A Time Agent would lock onto it as a Code Mauve heading to a Level 4 planet and track it. The perfect bait for the perfect con.

Only it wasn't. It would turn out to be the last con he would attempt to pull.

* * *

_I've got a few more chapter in the writing :D Hope to have them up soon! Leave a review to let me know how I'm doing..._


	7. Don't Forget Me

_Hiya, so this is too long to be called a drabble, or a drouble, but you get where this is going :D _

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Don't Forget Me

Jack had been here before. And he hated it. Then he would end up in a bar or a club and drink. From tipsy to drunk to unconscious. Sometimes he'd wake up on a bench, other times he'd die and then wake up. Another reminder and he hated it. So he had decided, a long time ago, that after the drink and after he had woken up, although he might not have died, he would start his life anew. As if it were a new life with no more painful memories of lost loves.

This time it had been different. This time there were too many 'what if's'. What if he had told Ianto to wait outside the building. What if they were too late for some unspecified reason. What if. And then there was the biggest, 'what if the Doctor had been there?'. Because 'everybody lives'when the Doctor saves the day. When Jack had tried, too many people had died. If he hadn't, then maybe Ianto could've lived.

So Jack reached for his coat and shrugged it on. Then he set off for the nearest bar which was only a five minute walk away. He passed a parade of shops, a little park and crossed a road. Then he stopped as he remembered Ianto's last words. '_Don't forget me.'_

It had been a promise, and it weighed so heavy. Sad. Hurting. But he turned around, away from the parade of shops and walked slowly back to the Hub. He'd remember. He wouldn't forget.

* * *

_Next chapter will be longer! :D And more lighter! :D _


	8. Oh, The Irony

_Been a while since I updated...I know. And I've seen this sort of thing before but I wanted to do it anyway, my way...yep...here you go! :D _

* * *

Oh, The Irony

Jenny was running to the airlock but she skidded to a stop when she saw a blue box. All those hours in the library where she sat and poured over books about her dad's life or what was noted down about it. Some were facts, others sounded ridiculous but there were a few things which were constant. And the main one was that he travelled in a small blue Police Box which was referred to as a TARDIS. Described exactly how the thing in front of her was.

It started to make an odd thrumming noise before fading in and out of sight. Jenny quickly remembered how to move again. She rushed up the blue doors and hammered her fist on it. "Let me in!" The TARDIS stopped dematerialising and stood solid.

The door quickly swung open and a hand reached out to grab her arm and pull her in. Jenny grinned as she saw that the inside was bigger than the outside. Then her attention returned to the man who had pulling her in. He ran back to the console. Jenny stood by the door and watched as he slung a blue greatcoat over the railings and strolled around the console in a shirt, suspenders and black trousers. He turned dials, pulled lever and pressed buttons on a screen which was attached to a lit up column in the centre of the room.

He hadn't given her so much as a second glance after pulling her in. She wondered if he was unsure about her. After what seemed like a lifetime he turned around to face her, running a hand through his short brown hair and then smiling.

"Right then, the TARDIS is safe and sound in the time vortex. Cut it a little bit too close when you knocked on the door, but no harm done. The relays were on a timer, must have been tripped early by the radiation leaks." He looked her up and down before leaning on a rail next to a battered old sofa. "Although, not many people take a vacation on an old space freighter which is on its last legs. In fact, there wasn't supposed to be anyone there at all."

Jenny stood still and stared at him in shock.

"So what were you doing there?" He asked smoothly.

"Don't you remember me?" She asked after she found her voice, both hearts were pounding in her chest.

"Remember you?" The man frowned, "Have I met you?" He asked and Jenny took a few steps forwards, utterly confused.

"This is the TARDIS, right?" She questioned and the man nodded his head. Jenny looked at her feet for a moment before looking up at the man, straight in the eye. "Dad?" She asked quietly.

"What was that?" The man asked leaning forwards and she frowned. Then she pulled out a gun from her pocket and aimed it at him.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my dad's TARDIS?" Jenny demanded.

The man put both his hands up and smiled at her. "I'm Captain Jack Harkness, and this is my TARDIS." He watched as confusion flittered across her face. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Jenny."

"Jenny...?"

"Just Jenny," she replied tersely.

"Well then Just Jenny, mind if you lower your gun and take a seat. I think you need to explain something to me." Jack said pleasantly, still smiling at her.

"Which is?" Jenny asked without lowering her gun.

"You said your _dad_." Jack began, "Your _dad_ has a TARDIS. Is your _dad_ the Doctor by any chance?"

"Do you know him?" She asked curiously.

"Oh, we have history, your _dad_ and me." Jack grinned before turning around to face the screen. "Even if the man couldn't fly his TARDIS in a straight line. God knows what havoc he cause leaving the handbrake on while flying." Jack scoffed and Jenny rolled her eyebrows. "Take a seat Jenny. I won't bite. Promise."

He smirked and she decided to lower the gun and placing it back into her holster. She walked up the ramp and paused in front of Jack. He took a step to the side and she went to walk past him to sit on the sofa. Only, he grabbed her wrist and put his fingers lightly on the side, measuring her pulse. In the same instant the gun was back in her hand and was pressed against his head.

"Let go," she said plainly, an implied threat. Jack did.

"You're Time Lord," he said suspiciously.

"TARDISs are Time Lord technology yet you have one." Jenny stated with equal suspicion. She peered at the screen, inspecting it. "How did you get it?"

"Maybe I'm a Time Lord?"

Jenny turned around to face him and laughed. "You're not." She paused and stared at him for a long moment. Jack didn't like the feeling. "You're mainly human, but different too." Her eyes narrowed. "Wrong." She stated as she decided on the right word to describe him.

Jack pulled a face in reply. "Depends on your perception," he said with a grimace. "And if you think I stole this one from the Doctor, I didn't. It's my TARDIS. I'm the one who waited all those years for it to grow. Used to sit on my desk like a little piece of coral and now just look at it. Amazing!" Jack told her as he reached over to pull the screen towards him.

He nodded in confirmation at whatever was on it and then pressed a big blue button which turned green before dropping down onto the sofa and stared up at Jenny. "So, spill. The Doctor's daughter. Now how'd that happen?" He grinned mischievously. "Or rather, who?"

Jenny let out a chuckle before shaking her head as she leaned against the console and repocketed the gun. "No, I want to know how you know my dad," she said smirking.

Jack sighed and nodded. "I travelled with him for a while."

Jenny gazed off into the space behind him before blinking and rummaging around in her pockets. She pulled out a large tablet shaped touch screen computer and began to tap it. Jack blinked before laughing at her.

"What?" She asked.

"He does that. Pulls out things way too large to fit in those small pockets. Bigger on the inside."

Jenny smiled as she looked back down at the tablet. "Captain Jack Harkness." She read out. "Also known as the Silver Destruction, The Immortal, and Leader of the Torchwood Institute on Sol 3 in the twenty first century. With service spanning over five centuries." She raised her eyebrows in mock approval.

"I know, looking good for my age," he said as he straighten out his shirt sleeves.

"An ex Time Agent?" She asked as she read on.

"You disapprove?" He asked with mock surprise.

Jenny shrugged, "Just ironic I suppose, an ex Time Agent with a TARDIS."

"I got promoted from space hopper to sports car, nothing wrong with that." Jack replied a little sulkily but then eyed the vortex manipulator strapped to her wrist. "Oh, the irony." He grinned at it.

"I've...been trying to find him." Jenny said after a moment's silence.

"I gave up after a while. Well, it was a long while." Jack replied quietly. "Like I said, a hard man to track down. I figured if I used my new TARDIS it could be a little easier, but then I got a little distracted." He waved his hand nonchalantly.

"How?"

"Everything out there, behind those blue doors." He replied with a smile before he glanced back at the monitor. "The whole universe, the whole of time and space. You tell me, isn't it something that anyone wants to see?"

"They'd be mad not to," she agreed.

There was a pause as they listened to the hum of the TARDIS. And then Jack spoke, sealing their future for some time to come. "Would you want to?" Jenny stared at him and he continued. "See it all I mean. A Time Lord in a TARDIS with a companion. Kind of traditional isn't it. Although, she's still my TARDIS." He was quick to tack that on.

Jenny smiled. "Sounds like a plan." She decided and reached over to throw the handbrake up, sending the TARDIS flying through the vortex off to a new time and place.

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_Review please! :D _


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